Robustness, Exploitable Relations and History: Assessing a Hybrid Theory of Representation

SÁNCHEZ, NICOLÁS SEBASTIÁN

Crítica

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Lugar: México D.F.; Año: 2024 vol. 56

A constitutive theory ofrepresentation must address two challenges. The content determination challengerequires specifying why a particular state has a given content. The jobdescription challenge requires spelling out the explanatory role thatrepresentational notions play in that theory. Recently, Nicholas Shea hasadvanced varitel semantics as a hybrid approach to representation toanswer those challenges, supplementing teleosemantics with non-historicalfeatures –namely, exploitable relations and robustness. In this paper, Icritically assess the hybrid theory’s answers to both challenges, arguing thattheir hybrid nature undermines their merits. In each case, I will show that itis hard to establish how the alleged complementariness of the hybrid accountcomponents works. I will conclude that internal problems beset Shea’s theory ofrepresentation.